Voldemort's Worst Scandal
by EchoLark
Summary: Voldemort takes things one step too far and sends the gang back in time, where they are almost instantly swallowed up in the Founder wars. Pursued by Death Eaters and torn by battle, they must find the true meaning of “all’s fair in love and war”..
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the other characters in this story, only the plot and Lorelei Campbell.  
  
A/N: I edited this, I explained it at the bottom in case it's your first time reading this, don't want to give anything away! So please, by all means, read and review! I'd love to hear your comments!  
  
Voldemort's Worst Scandal  
  
Prologue  
  
Ginny Weasley sat, motionless and stoic, in the gilded, red plush chair. Her arms and legs were folded; her brows were furrowed. Her stony gaze was fixed upon two people and two people alone. These two waltzing people were special to Ginny, more special than the rest of the dancing couples, more important at the moment, even, than the bride and groom. All that mattered was that she keep watching these two, Harry Potter with Lorelei Campbell, that she keep the beat of the song they were dancing to synchronized with her own heart.  
  
Lorelei Campbell was only invited to the wedding of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger for one reason. Mrs. Weasley had insisted that they invite her, although the family had previously ignored her (unintentionally). The Weasleys had only just discovered that Lorelei existed, because she was the daughter of the only two Muggle Weasleys (with whom they had no contact): Mrs. Weasley's cousins were accountants who had ended up with a witch for a daughter. Lorelei, the daughter, looked nothing like the rest of the Weasley family; the red hair that made a Weasley stand out in a crowd was lost in her. She didn't even have the same last name, seeing as she was from Mrs. Weasley's side of the family. And, Ginny thought, it's all thanks to my mother's sympathetic side that brought her, and I've lost Harry to her.  
  
Now, all of a sudden, Harry seemed only to have eyes for Lorelei, and it broke Ginny's heart to see this happening. She had told herself all those years ago that she was long over Harry, that he was just a childhood crush. And then she had started dating other Hogwarts students. But one day Ginny had realized that deep down, she really loved Harry Potter and had only dated others to make up for what she wanted.  
  
But then came Lorelei, with her long, curly blonde hair, sky blue eyes, and perfect complexion; Lorelei with her short black dress, tan skin, high heels. Lorelei had ruby-red lips that shimmered in the dim light. Of course Harry would prefer Lorelei Campbell to Ginny's red curls, pale complexion, and freckles. Lorelei was a dream, and Ginny was just...there. Ron's little sister.  
  
Ginny shifted uncomfortably in her deep green maid-of-honor dress. Harry was Ron's best man. Ginny was Hermione's maid of honor. Shouldn't they dance together? Shouldn't that be made a custom? She almost laughed out loud at the thought of herself going forth before the Ministry of Magic and announcing her proposition to make best men and maids-of-honor at weddings dance together.  
  
Over the months since Ron and Hermione announced their engagement, Hermione had been like a sister to Ginny. Hermione had moved into the Burrow, sharing a room with Ginny, and there had been many a night when Mrs. Weasley had had to come in and scold them for talking until all hours. Ginny and Harry had also become close, just from the simple fact that he had been at the Burrow at least once a day every day since before the engagement. He had helped to plan things and run small errands. Ginny's brother, Fred, had once remarked that suddenly the Burrow had become "Wedding of the Year Headquarters," what with all of the people Apparating in and out at random points throughout the day.  
  
Lost in thought, Ginny's eyes had strayed to the other couples dancing. There were her parents, her brother Bill and Fleur Delacour, her brother Fred and Angelina Johnson, her brother George and Alicia Spinnet, Ron and Hermione, of course..  
  
She had to keep a horrible memory from entering her mind. With everything that had happened in the past, it was hard to keep her thoughts averted from the tragedies. Ron and Hermione's wedding had been a way for everyone to relax, to learn to put the past behind them. But while it had been easier for the wizarding world and for everyone else, it had been much harder for those who had been directly related to this incident to be able to just forget.  
  
Ginny remembered the months of sleepless nights followed by, worse, the months of nightmares that had haunted her by night and memories that had tortured her by day. Ron had been the same way, although he had managed to control it better and keep it more discreet.  
  
With Hermione, things had been much, much worse, of course. She had had the nightmares by night, the memories by day, and had suffered such a loss; it was unbelievable. Before the wedding, while Hermione was living at the Burrow years after the Incident, sometimes the household had been awakened to one of Hermione's nightmarish screams. Everyone would crash into her bedroom to find the normally cool and composed Hermione Granger reduced to a sobbing ball of fear. Mrs. Weasley would crush her into a hug and then run off to make some tea while Ron would enfold his fiancée into his arms and attempt to console her. Her agony was overwhelming, and yet, compared to the others, she had gained something else, although clearly her loss still pained her.  
  
Harry had suffered the same nightmares, the same memories, and a loss equivalent to Hermione's, but he, like Ron, was able to keep it quietly to himself. Draco, however.no one ever knew what Draco Malfoy was feeling, no one but Hermione. Ginny inwardly cursed the Incident that had caused she and her friends so much pain..  
  
When she finally snapped back to reality, Ginny quickly went to focus her gaze on Harry and Lorelei, inwardly chiding herself for forgetting and getting lost in the past again. But when she went to look, Harry was gone and Lorelei had snagged herself a new partner, Seamus Finnagan. Where, then, was--  
  
"Punch?" asked a familiar voice above her. Ginny craned her neck to see who it was, and lo and behold, there was a bespectacled pair of green eyes twinkling down at her. The same eyes that had just been on Lorelei Campbell were now fixed upon her. Ginny felt her stomach come alive with butterflies.  
  
Ginny put a hand to her throat and yelped, "Harry, you scared me!"  
  
He smirked slightly. "Sorry," he said, shifting his weight from one leg to another. He looked as though he thought it was funny, however. He was holding two punch glasses in his hands. "Punch?" he offered again. He held out one of the glasses of bright pink liquid.  
  
Ginny hardened, unwilling to forgive him so quickly. "Isn't that for Lorelei?"  
  
"No, it's for you. Why?" Harry inquired. A lock of his messy black hair fell over his eyes and Ginny couldn't help but think how cute it was. She wished she could just melt into his embrace.  
  
"You've only been all over each other all night," Ginny said, however, because had she melted into his embrace, she would have made Harry spill punch all over Grandfather Weasley, who was snoring nearby. Harry replied while she was thinking of that.  
  
"That's only because Mrs. Weasley asked me to be nice to her because she only knew her family, out of all of the guests. So I just took her around, introduced her to a few people, and voila- alone once more," chuckled Harry. Ginny blushed. She had been fooled. "Now," Harry continued, "are you going to have this punch or not?"  
  
She took the glass he offered and, using his free hand, Harry pulled a chair next to her.  
  
"Great wedding, huh?" Harry asked Ginny, who was now wondering what on earth to say now that she had Harry Potter sitting next to her. She was thankful that he had started the conversation.  
  
Ginny replied, "Yes, I was wondering if Ron and Hermione would ever manage to tie the knot, with all of the arguing that went on beforehand."  
  
"Actually, all those catastrophes were quite funny to me," said Harry, taking a sip of his punch.  
  
Ginny sighed, exasperated, and raised her eyes to the ceiling, heaving a sigh. "Harry Potter, I should have known that you would think so." Then she almost slapped herself for being so matronly.  
  
However, she privately agreed with Harry that the events preceding the wedding were amusing. Ron had refused to be married anywhere but Scotland, in the little ancestral church that had seen all Weasley weddings since the year 988. Hermione, although seeing Ron's point, had objected, pointing out that it would be expensive. They had to save all of the money they had until Hermione could secure a teaching position and Ron could finish Auror training. To make it possible for them to be married in Scotland, Harry had gone around to all of their relatives, teachers, and old school friends and collected money for them. If it weren't for Harry, they wouldn't be there in the first place.  
  
But that was only Catastrophe #1. After it, Hermione had tried to make Ron and all of the other ushers to wear tuxedos instead of dress robes so as not to make her Muggle guests uncomfortable. Ron had flat-out refused and Hermione had stomped up to Ginny's room and had evaded coming out for three days. Finally Ron had gone up to the room and talked her out of her little mood. Needless to say, Hermione had given up on the tuxedos.  
  
But to put a little obstinate flair into her bridesmaids, she had had the bridesmaids buy matching dark green Muggle dresses-green to correspond with Scotland's scenery and Muggle to show that she was still stubborn.  
  
Following this, there had been countless littler arguments about things like what color to make the invitations, what month to have the wedding, and whether or not to invite Draco Malfoy.  
  
As a matter of fact, they had invited Draco Malfoy, thanks to Hermione's relentless persisting that Draco actually wasn't as bad as everyone thought. She had found this out during the Incident. Although Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione had all been there for the Incident, only Hermione had come out of it liking Draco, who had also been involved.  
  
Draco stood now, in a shady corner, wearing robes of deep black velvet. He was inspecting his newly manicured nails while he watched Hermione and Ron dance wildly around the dance floor. They whirled about in uncontrollable circles. The crowd had backed off to the edge of the floor to give them space. The couple was holding hands as they spun; Hermione was leaned way far backward and her head was thrown carelessly back as well. The lilt of her laugh could be heard throughout the whole room as her curls fought themselves free of the bun they had been pulled into. Ron gazed at her in admiration, leading her around and around and around, never getting dizzy, just lost in looking at her. He was laughing, too, however. Gradually, Ron pulled her back up toward him and their unruly twirling turned into a calm sort of revolving as they slowly spun with their arms locked around each other.  
  
Hermione was the only reason that Draco had come to this wedding. There had been a sort of silent bond between them ever since the Incident. The Incident was never mentioned, and marked the death of Voldemort and the return of something much worse.  
  
A slow song started, and Draco stopped his train of thought for a second as he saw that almost everyone was dancing to the song. He, of course, would never dance with anyone here. He was lucky to have been able to escape, and if his father found out that he was here, Draco might be left out of the Malfoy family tree. Or chopped, so to speak.  
  
Over on the other side of the room, Harry Potter asked Ginny Weasley quietly, "So, do you want to dance?" He blushed crazily, but only he knew this, as the lights in the room had been dimmed. He was relieved when Ginny accepted.  
  
"Of course," she replied. Harry stood and offered her his hand. Ginny took it and Harry led her onto the dance floor, where they swayed slowly with the beat of the song. Ginny rested her head on Harry's shoulder and Harry held her close. Once, however, Ginny caught Harry look at Hermione briefly with a sad look upon his face, a look that made her sense that he was far off, back in the past. As he well should be, Ginny chided herself. After what they put each other through all those years ago, after what could be.after what had been. That was, until the Incident had gone and happened. She wondered whether or not she should just give up, untangle herself from Harry's arms and ultimately move on. Then, she thought, he just needs time to move on. They went through a lot, and though it was eleven years ago, we all still need to recover.  
  
That's what it's always been, thought Draco in his dark corner. Potter and Weasley, Potter and Hermione, Potter and Ginny. All of them were always together. Since the Incident, they had all been together even more than usual. Ever since the Incident had come to be, since it had tied them all up into it. Since it had forced a connection between Draco and the rest, when it was clear that they had wanted nothing to do with each other. But that had not been for them to decide. Voldemort had decided for them.  
  
It had happened eleven years ago, when Draco, Harry, Hermione, and Ron were in their sixth year at school and Ginny in her fifth. And one can only imagine what causes them all to wake up from a nightmare, doused in cold sweat, even after eleven years...  
  
A/N: Thanks for reading this! I made it more descriptive and tried to convey the impact of the Incident with more hard-hitting subjects, like the paragraph about Hermione's nightmares. I want to make sure you understand just how much this Incident is going to matter to them.  
  
x 


	2. The Plan

A/N: This takes place eleven years previous to the prologue-I wanted you to get a taste of the future before heading to the past-if only you knew how far ( Thanks to everyone who reviewed, I'll mention your names at the bottom. You reviewers are what inspired me to put up this next chapter a few days earlier than I had planned. This chapter is kind of boring because it's a transitional one, and I promise the next one will be better. So, again, please read and review!  
  
  
  
  
  
Voldemort's Worst Scandal  
  
  
  
Chapter Two  
  
The Plan  
  
If anyone had seen him, they would have found a most peculiar sight: a large, fat rat running through the village of Hogsmeade, dragging a red pouch by its drawstring in his teeth. He scurried over the cool ground in the twilight. It was awfully cool, even for an October night, and his paws were cold as he drew nearer to his destination. Luckily he had his thick coat of fur to keep him warm.  
  
He hadn't been to Hogsmeade in quite some time-since his school days, in fact, when he, James, Sirius, and Remus used to wreak havoc throughout the village. Now, he was simply Wormtail, and he was on an important errand for his master. This was his last chance to prove to his master that he could get a job done well.  
  
In the past, Wormtail's master, Voldemort, the second most evil wizard of all time, had tried numerous times to kill off Harry Potter. For a while, he had gone for the big, showy, Death-Eaters-there-to-intimidate-Harry kind of thing. But when that failed for years, he had decided to try and do it in much simpler ways. When Harry was fifteen, they had tried two hundred and thirty-three times to kill him, but somehow, it had always failed. It was either the fault of one of Harry's friends or the fault of Wormtail himself-usually the latter. There were so many that Voldemort had started a filing cabinet just for his evil plots, with three drawers: one labeled "Failed Plans", one labeled "New Ideas/Untested Plans", and one labeled "Plans that Worked". Needless to say, the "Plans that Worked" drawer was empty.  
  
Now that Harry was sixteen, they were running out of ideas. How much longer could they hold Evil Knitting Bees and send Harry cursed Weasley sweaters? So Voldemort had come up with this. The flask inside the pouch that Wormtail was dragging held their last plan. And he had no intention of letting it fail.  
  
Wormtail arrived at Honeydukes, the sweet shop in Hogsmeade. This was his intended destination, and it seemed that he was just in time. Inside, the owners were preparing to close up the shop. One put on his coat and opened the door, then stopped inside the doorway to ask if the other owner was coming. Quickly, Wormtail dodged the man's heavy boots and ran into the store, hiding behind a rack of Pumpkin Pasties and Sugar Quills. The other owner left, and Wormtail waited until he no longer heard their footsteps to return to his human form.  
  
Rat turned to a short, pudgy human with a pouch in his teeth. Wormtail spit it out and fumbled through the darkness to find the stairs to the cellar. This was so familiar; everything was coming back to him now. He got down to the cellar and got down on all fours, and after several moments of searching with his hands, he got out his wand and muttered, "Lumos."  
  
The cellar was illuminated now with the burst of light that exploded from his wand. There were crates, boxes, and barrels of all shapes and sizes, stacked everywhere in random distribution. Wormtail wondered how anyone could possibly find anything down there. Finally he found what he was looking for-a trapdoor fixed into the ground-luckily he remembered where it was, or else he would never have found it.  
  
He hesitated before opening what he had found. This trapdoor, this passageway.they brought back memories of James, Sirius, Remus.he was overwhelmed for a moment by memory. He knew he deserved this, and then, shaking himself, he heaved open the trapdoor and, closing it behind him, went down the staircase and through the passageway.  
  
Wormtail knew he had to hurry. The night's dinner at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry must have started by now, and he had to hurry and do this tonight.  
  
The reason that it was so important that he do this tonight was that Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, was out on business. He needed to carry out the plan without Dumbledore there because Dumbledore was the greatest wizard of the time, and it would be exceedingly difficult to do this from right under Dumbledore's nose, wouldn't it?  
  
He broke into a run, panting before he had run five steps. Wormtail was very much out of shape, having been spending much time as a rat and much other time serving Voldemort-when did he have time to run? He was never very athletic, no, that had been James. Sirius, too. But never he. He had always been the one who followed everyone around, whining and complaining and panting from the effort.  
  
After sprinting, then running, then jogging, then finally settling at a leisurely pace, Wormtail arrived at the end of the passageway. He climbed out of the one-eyed witch's hump and quickly returned to rat form.  
  
If he could have smiled, he would have. This was so easy! Thanks to James, Sirius, and Remus, he would be bringing the downfall of Harry Potter and his little friends-that Hermione Granger, his Mudblood girlfriend, Ron Weasley, his best friend, Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister whom Voldemort wanted dead for escaping his diary, and Seamus Finnigan, who Voldemort wanted dead for spoiling so many plots to kill Harry. If only James could be here to see that he had brought about the death of his own son!  
  
Wormtail went through numerous corridors until he came to the portrait that led to the kitchens. He was glad that no one had decided to skip supper tonight and go by him in the hallway. He looked around carefully to make sure that no one was around, turned into a human again, and tickled the pear on the painting. It swung open to reveal the vast, immaculate kitchens with about a hundred house-elves there in their uniforms. Now it was time to put on his act.  
  
"Sir, may we help you?" asked one house-elf.  
  
"Yes, I would like three hundred roast turkeys, on Professor McGonagall's order," Wormtail answered, smothering a grin.  
  
"Three hundred, sir?"  
  
"Yes. Three hundred. On second thought, make it five hundred. Yes, that's what the Professor wanted. Five hundred roast turkeys hand- delivered to the Great Hall by the house-elves." Wormtail answered.  
  
Like bees in a hive, the house-elves set to work. They pointed out to Wormtail that it might take up to an hour to get all of those turkeys delivered. He said that it would be fine. Now, he needed to carry out his evil plot while the other house-elves weren't looking.  
  
"Hey, you!" Wormtail called out to a house-elf. "Come over here for a second. You have a special job." The house-elf came over and Wormtail said, "I need five goblets of pumpkin juice on a tray immediately."  
  
"Yes, sir, whatever you want, sir!" The house-elf went right to his job. Within moments he had brought back a tray freshly laden with the pumpkin juice he'd asked for.  
  
"Go and fetch me a student," said Wormtail.  
  
"But, sir, we house-elves mustn't leave the kitchens until after hours!" complained the house-elf, with terror in his eye.  
  
Wormtail got down on his knees so that he was at eye level with the house- elf. "Look here," he said, "You get the student, or else-" he made a slicing motion across his throat, "-your little friends here are dead. And don't even try to tell on me, you see, I will be watching you. Watch this." He took a shiny pan off of one of the shelves and, "Crystallus," he whispered, pointing with his wand. The pan became clear, and he could see the house-elf through it. "Now go."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Thanks to: Me, nut job, SoccerAngel, guess, and AgiVega for reviewing! Next chapter within a week! 


	3. Imperio

A/N: Just to clarify, the spell Wormtail used at the end of Chapter 2 was called the Magic Mirror charm-it lets you see a certain person or thing wherever they go, and also lets you hear what's going on around the object or person (Think Belle's mirror on Disney's Beauty and the Beast). Wormtail cast it on the house-elf so that he could make sure that the house- elf didn't tell anyone that there was a stranger in the kitchens or anything.  
  
Also, sorry this has taken awhile to get uploaded but I've been really busy. But it is within a week! :)  
  
Thanks to AgiVega and Elizabeth for reviewing!  
  
Now, finally, on to Chapter 3. Read and review! Enjoy!  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Voldemort's Worst Scandal  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter Three  
  
  
  
Imperio  
  
  
  
The poor, frightened house-elf shivered as he made his way through the deserted castle corridors looking for a student. He wanted to cry, but he knew that the strange man who had threatened him would see through the cooking pan, so he held the tears back and just kept on walking. He tried to put on a face that would imply that he was being courageous and stubborn. Sooner or later, he reminded himself, dinner will be over and then I'll have to go back to the kitchens, so that no others will see me. House-elves should never be seen-that was their first rule. The only one to break it was that fool Dobby, always running around in his strange clothes, mismatched socks, demanding pay. That was frightening enough in itself.  
  
As he rounded a corner, the house-elf was startled as he ran into a male student carrying a camera. He looked like an older student, probably fourteen or fifteen at the most. His hair was askew and he was panting, taking deep, heaving breaths, and his camera was swinging wildly around his neck. As the impact of running into the small house-elf hit him, he knocked the house-elf over, tripped on him, accidentally hit the button on his camera that made pictures, making the camera go off in the poor house- elf's face, then the boy flew into the air, landed with a thump, and skidded into the far wall. He lay there motionless.  
  
The house-elf quickly got down on his knees and apologized, as it was in his nature to do so.  
  
"Oh, sir! I'm so, so sorry! I never meant to run into you, sir! Please forgive me!" he wailed, pounding his tiny, grubby fists on the cold ground. He watched through one open eye as the student rolled over painstakingly away from the wall and moaned. Then he sat straight up, with a bit less effort.  
  
"Are you a house-elf?" the boy asked curiously. He made no reference to the accident that had just occurred, and therefore neither forgave the house-elf nor held a grudge. (So the house-elf, naturally, assumed that the student was angry with him.)  
  
"Yes, my kind sir, I am a house-elf, a most humble house-elf, and if there's anything I can do for you-" the house-elf blurted out, only to be cut off in mid-sentence by the strange boy.  
  
"I've never actually seen a house-elf before, only in pictures. But I knew there were some in the castle. Can I take your picture?" the student seemed eager and clutched his camera tightly in his hand as he jumped up onto his feet. "I'm Colin, by the way, Colin Creevy."  
  
The house-elf had no idea what to make of this Colin Creevy. The house-elf had not only run into Colin but had caused him to waste a picture, fly into the air, and hit a wall. But now Colin seemed so excited to meet a house- elf that he had forgotten about the accident. At least he wasn't grievously injured, as at first the house-elf had wondered. Maybe the house-elf could use the boy's eagerness to his own advantage.  
  
"I am Twinky the house-elf, and if you'll come with me to the kitchens, you can get all the pictures you want. Come, sir. Come," Twinky said, grabbing Colin's hand and dragging him eagerly down the hall and back to the kitchens. They didn't have far to go, for in his fear Twinky had been too slow and scared to get anywhere. Twinky was too short to tickle the pear on the portrait that led into the kitchens so Colin did it for him. (The house-elves used their own entrance.) As soon as the portrait swung open, Colin ran in and began photographing everything in sight. Wormtail, who had been waiting, was astonished-Colin had taken pictures of him. What would the rest of the wizarding world think, once the photos were developed? He was supposed to be dead!  
  
Angrily, Wormtail whipped out his wand, shouted, "Imperio!" and then Colin stopped his picture-taking frenzy and stood quietly.  
  
Wormtail smirked evilly, excitedly anticipating what his master's reaction would be. Voldemort would certainly be overjoyed that Potter and his stupid little gang were GONE. The potion he had put into the goblets of pumpkin juice would certainly get rid of them.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Harry Potter's quick, Quidditch-derived reflexes kicked in as he caught the flying pineapple. It had come sailing over from Draco Malfoy at the Slytherin table and was aimed especially for Neville Longbottom. There were snickers from the Slytherin table, which faded slightly after Harry caught the pineapple. The hush that had fallen gradually went away as a few people whispered, and then everyone resumed their conversation. No one expected Harry to do anything else about it.  
  
"Honestly," Hermione Granger, Harry's best friend and girlfriend, said. "They act like such children! And who in their right mind throws a pineapple? It's something that you'd expect from a first year, not a sixth."  
  
It was true. Draco had never thrown things before.  
  
"Maybe it's his immaturity kicking in," Ron Weasley, their other best friend, said with a grin. "Oh, wait, I forgot, he's had that for years."  
  
"Definitely," Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister, agreed.  
  
Harry stood up, pineapple still in hand, and moved toward the Slytherins.  
  
"Harry! Where are you going?" Hermione asked with concern.  
  
"Be right back," he mumbled.  
  
"Harry?" asked Hermione timidly. She reached out a hand and caught the back of his robes, drawing him back toward her.  
  
"I'll be fine, don't worry, I'm only going across the Great Hall to knock some sense into Malfoy."  
  
"Just don't do anything you'll regret," warned Hermione. Harry bent down and kissed her forehead before turning and leaving her.  
  
"Go, Harry!" he heard Ron shout behind him. Harry smiled, but didn't turn around.  
  
With long, angry strides, he reached the Slytherin table and the place where Draco Malfoy was sitting, as usual, between his cronies, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. The whole Great Hall was hushed, aside from the scraping of forks and knives against plates that came from the high table, where the teachers sat.  
  
"Well, if it isn't for perfect little Potter, always sticking up for the weak and fighting everyone else's battles for them," Draco sneered maliciously. Crabbe and Goyle, as if on cue, laughed loudly, as did other Slytherins who were sitting nearby.  
  
Harry knew he shouldn't be doing this; and he wasn't sure why he was letting himself get so worked up this time out of all of the other times Malfoy had taunted his friends. But he took the pineapple and threw it down as hard as he could into Malfoy's soup bowl. The red soup automatically flared up and went all over Malfoy's pale face and into his hair. He turned the color of the soup-Harry couldn't tell if it was the soup or Malfoy's rage turning him red.  
  
Everyone in the Great Hall who wasn't a Slytherin burst out laughing, and even some of the teachers were having trouble not smiling. Malfoy jumped up, screaming, "My hair! My hair! Potter, what have you done to my hair! And my face! My perfect, smooth complexion! When my father hears about this-"  
  
"Shut up, Malfoy!" shouted half the students in the Great Hall. All of this was too much for Harry. He was laughing so hard that tears were running down his face. No one noticed that Colin Creevy had entered the room with a tray of five goblets of pumpkin juice.  
  
As Colin passed by Malfoy, Malfoy grabbed one of the pumpkin juices off of the tray and, intending to throw it into Harry's face, took a gulp first. He froze and sat down in his seat. However, no one else had noticed where Malfoy had gotten the pumpkin juice. Everyone began taunting Malfoy and saying he was a chicken for sitting and not facing Harry.  
  
So when Colin continued down the aisle of tables toward Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, they also took the pumpkin juice that Colin offered and they, too, froze upon drinking it. Finally Colin went up toward Harry and, under the Imperius curse, said, "Hey Harry, want some celebratory pumpkin juice?" Harry also took a sip, unsuspecting of what he was getting himself into.  
  
Now that all of the pumpkin juices had been drunk out of, this triggered them into action. Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, and Harry Potter were lifted, frozen, into the air by unseen hands. They hung suspended in the air, their limbs lifeless, their heads dangling. They all suddenly woke up-you could tell by the way their heads snapped to attention. Then one by one they disappeared.  
  
For everyone in the Great Hall, it was pandemonium. Teachers sprang up out of their seats and students screamed. But they had the better end of the bargain. For them, it was worry. But for Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, and Ginny, well--  
  
For them, the world commenced to collapse.  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Thanks a bunch for reading, and before you go, PLEASE review! As always, next chapter within a week!  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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	4. Malachi and Allegra

A/N: A few things: For some reason, italics and bold lettering never stay in my chapters once I upload them onto ff.net, and I don't know why. If anyone has any suggestions on why this might be happening or on how to get the italics and bold lettering to stay, please let me know! (The song below the chapter title should be in italics, as should the artist and the song title.) (Also, any spells that have been typed in this chapter and all chapters previous to this one and following this one should be in italics. So just so you know, it's not my error, it's the computer :))  
  
Thanks to AgiVega, Cherie, and Chinese Fireball for reviewing!  
  
Here's where the story gets moving..  
  
  
  
Voldemort's Worst Scandal  
  
Chapter Four  
  
Malachi and Allegra  
  
  
  
And now I'm lost,  
  
And now I run from you,  
  
And now I see,  
  
Just how I bleed from you,  
  
And all the lies, all the lies,  
  
How could I let you in?  
  
But now it's clear,  
  
I went along for the ride.  
  
~Vanessa Carlton, "Swindler"  
  
  
  
...For them, the world commenced to collapse.  
  
~^~^~^~  
  
Ginny Weasley stirred uncomfortably. A strange scent reached her nostrils as she breathed in deeply, trying to detect what it was. Eventually she stopped wracking her brain for ideas- thinking gave her a headache. Her whole body ached; and she was too tired to even open her eyes.  
  
She flinched as something small and moist hit her face. Raindrops! One fell onto her parched lips and Ginny licked them gratefully. Whatever she was laying on was soft, yet felt rough and scratchy against her skin, unlike her bed at Hogwarts, which was composed of the softest feather mattresses and pillows.  
  
If Ginny had been well enough, she would have been able to touch her forehead and determine that she was burning up with a fever. If she had been well enough, she could have looked into a mirror and seen that her cheeks were a deep crimson. She coughed hoarsely, then cringed-her throat hurt terribly. Then she realized that her mouth was excessively dry-she was dehydrated.  
  
The rain began to fall harder, and soon she was soaked through. She moaned pathetically, and cried out in her delirium, "Mum? Mum?" before passing out in a dead faint.  
  
"Milady? Milady, please wake," cried a boy slightly older than Ginny. He was tall, with longish brown, curly hair that barely grazed his broad shoulders. He had heard Ginny moaning on his way into his cottage from the privy and had come to see what had happened. Ginny, of course, did not stir. The boy looked wildly around, feeling inside his pockets and patting himself. "Rats! My wand is in the cottage!"  
  
"Oy! Over here!" shouted a voice that would have been familiar to Ginny, had she been conscious. The boy quickly looked over in the direction that the shout had come from. Vaguely, he could see a red head sticking up out of one of the haystacks in the field. He squinted-with every passing moment, the storm got worse, making it harder and harder to see clearly.  
  
Torn between going to see what the redheaded person wanted and saving the young maiden, he finally picked up the maiden and brought her with him to go see what the redhead needed.  
  
"Ginny!" shouted the redhead as soon as the boy came over with her. "Thank God, I was worried sick. Ginny?" he frowned as she didn't stir. The redhead turned his attention to the boy holding Ginny. "Who are you?" he demanded.  
  
"I could ask you the same thing," the boy replied, "For this be my own field, and I have every right to know what be goin' on inside it."  
  
"I have no bloody idea how I got here," the redhead (Ron) said. "But I'm Ron Weasley, and this is Ginny, my sister. And this-" he gestured to a figure lying on the ground, "is Hermione Granger. All of us got to this field by strange means, and I for one don't know where we are. But it appears that Hermione and Ginny need medical care, and I have it under good authority that my friend Harry Potter might be here, too. He usually ends up in the same messes as the rest of us."  
  
"Sorry, sir. I had no idea. I am Malachi Antwerp. And welcome to me humble field. Come now; let us bring the maidens into the cottage. Me sister may watch over them while we search for your comrade."  
  
Ron nodded his soaking wet head in agreement, and stooped to pick up an obviously unconscious Hermione. He followed closely behind Malachi and momentarily they reached a small cottage. Through the rain, Ron could make out that the roof was made of thatched straw and there was a thin trail of smoke coming out of a chimney.  
  
Malachi somehow opened the wooden door to the cottage while still holding Ginny and he and Ron quickly went into the cottage, slammed the door, and stood, dripping wet, with water trickling onto the hard-packed dirt floor.  
  
The whole cottage was only one large room, and up above them was a room that took up half the space of the large downstairs room. There was a wooden balcony up there, implying that if you were up there, you could look over the balcony and onto the room below. You could see the thatching of the roof, and there were herbs and dried flowers hanging from the thick wooden rafters that separated the sections of thatching.  
  
Downstairs, there was a fireplace directly across the room from the door. There were shelves lining the walls, topped with strange-looking jars full of powders and undistinguishable liquids, and foods, too. A square wooden table was in the room, and there were four wooden stools surrounding it. On it was a pewter vase full of huge purple flowers. There was a wooden washstand with a washbasin on top of it, and a cloth hanging from the wall next to it.  
  
"Wow," Ron said. "We are so not at Hogwarts anymore."  
  
There was a rather pretty maiden around Ron's age carding wool in a corner of the cottage. She had long brown curly hair like Malachi's only much longer, and she was of medium height. She was extremely skinny with intoxicating green eyes. She had stood up quickly as the door was thrown open. "Malachi," she exclaimed, "where have you been? I was so worried when you didn't come back from the privy, what with this cursed storm. And," she continued, "Whom have ye brought with you?"  
  
"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron said. "This is Hermione Granger, and my sister, Ginny. Who are you?"  
  
"Allegra Antwerp," she replied, smiling, blushing slightly, and curtsying. "It's a pleasure," she added shyly. Ron blushed, also. Snapping back to her senses, Allegra said, "Hurry, then, lay those poor maidens down. We'd better not put them on the beds in the loft, 'tis much too cold and drafty up there. Wait a moment and I'll get some blankets, then I'll put the blankets on the floor by the fire for them."  
  
Allegra disappeared up a staircase lining the far wall and soon returned with several quilts, two of which she spread onto the floor by the fireplace. Malachi laid Ginny on one and Ron laid Hermione on the other.  
  
"Allegra, we have to go back out into the storm. Ron here has lost a friend." Malachi announced. "I'll just get me wand and a charm then we be leavin'."  
  
He went to one of the cupboards lining the wall and looked around in it, mumbling and shoving things aside, until finally he triumphantly drew out what appeared to be a dried onion on a string. "For good luck," he explained. Malachi then retrieved his wand from a chair in a corner. "Would ye like a coat? 'Tis chilly out there, and who knows how long we may be searchin'." He started up the staircase as if already convinced that Ron would want a coat.  
  
"Yes, that would be nice." Ron said, shivering a bit as he waited for Malachi to come back downstairs with the wrap. He watched Allegra putter around the cottage.  
  
First, she had taken out her wand and transformed Ginny's and Hermione's clothes into dry robes, and then she had hung their wet robes in front of the fire in the fireplace to dry. She had hung a cauldron from a chain extending down from the chimney over the fire, and was busy making a potion. Every once in a while Allegra would go back to the cauldron and stir the bubbling liquid in it or add a new ingredient. She bathed Hermione and Ginny's faces with water from the washbasin.  
  
Malachi came back downstairs with a heavy green cloak in his hand, and he was wearing one of deep blue. He tossed the cloak at Ron. "Come," he said, and opened the door. Ron, after putting on his cloak, followed him out, and Allegra closed the door behind them, whispering, "Godspeed."  
  
Outside, it had become pitch black. The storm was much worse. The wind howled, whipping out their cloaks. The rain pounded harder and harder, almost as if someone in the heavens had decided to dump buckets of water toward the Earth.  
  
"What be your friend's name?" Malachi shouted over the storm.  
  
"Harry. Harry Potter," Ron shouted back, hoping to be heard.  
  
"Harry! Harry!" thundered Malachi. "HARRY!" Ron soon joined him in the cries.  
  
They headed toward the field of haystacks first, because that was where Malachi had first found Ron, Ginny, and Hermione. They searched and searched, but Harry was nowhere to be found. As they searched, Ron pondered inwardly why he thought Harry was here. If Harry turned out not to be here after all, then he was wasting both his time and Malachi's. But if Harry was here, and they just went back to the cottage, then Harry might get sick.  
  
Then, unexpectedly, Malachi tripped over something on the ground. He took out his wand and muttered, "Lumos." Who his wand illuminated was someone Ron never would have expected to come across in...wherever this place was, in the middle of a storm, when he was expecting to find Harry Potter. This person, in fact, was the exact opposite of Harry Potter.  
  
Draco Malfoy lie in the mud next to a soaking wet haystack.  
  
~^~^~^~  
  
Back at the cottage, Allegra was almost finished with her potion. She stirred it feverishly, casting a backward glance at Hermione and Ginny. As she did so, something gold glinted and caught her eye-it was glimmering just a bit over the collar of Ginny's deep green robe.  
  
Allegra pulled back Ginny's collar and saw that a gold chain was hanging from her delicate, cool white neck. Allegra gently tugged on it and drew out a necklace of a most beautiful quality. It was a golden deer, so intricately designed onto the gold of the necklace that hairs were visible on its back. There was so much detail that you could see gentleness in the deer's eye. And in the middle of the deer's back rested a deep pink- colored stone- a rhodonite. Allegra was amazed at the fine quality of the piece-she had never seen anything so luxurious on all of her life, even out of all the things in her mother's jewelry box.  
  
Curious, Allegra decided to see if Hermione, too, had a necklace of wealth. She pulled back Hermione's royal blue collar and there was a silver- colored necklace in there. Her good senses told her that it was platinum. Only on Hermione's, there was an owl carved into the platinum, and into the owl was placed a jade gemstone. Allegra was amazed that these two strange girls had acquired such wealth.  
  
Then she turned the owl necklace over and on the back was inscribed a deer, a dragon, a lion, and a hawk. Allegra was puzzled. She went back to Ginny's necklace and turned it over: the same thing was inscribed on the back of Ginny's necklace, only in the place of the deer that was on Hermione's, there was an owl.  
  
Allegra shook her head, sighed, and stood up. She would tell Malachi and Ron when they got back. For now, she was going to focus only on helping to bring these two sick girls back to health. By now her potion was complete, so she got two cups from one of her many cupboards and ladled portions of the potion into each. Then Allegra poured some into both Ginny and Hermione's mouths.  
  
All she could do now was wait.  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Thanks for reading, please leave a review! (With any suggestions if you have them about the italics thing, please.)  
  
  
  
  
  
nt 


	5. Timeframe Revealed

A/N: Sorry this is so late! I've been really busy!  
  
Thanks to AgiVega, Marielle, AmericanPie221, IchiroSuzukiLuva, and DeerinHeadLights for reviewing! You're all awesome.  
  
  
  
Voldemort's Worst Scandal  
  
Chapter Five  
  
Timeframe Revealed  
  
In the dim light coming from Malachi's wand, Ron could tell that whatever had happened to them had effected Draco in the same way that it had effected Ginny and Hermione. Despite the fact that they were in the middle of a horrible storm that was promising to get worse, in the middle of the night, in a strange place (wherever in God's name it was), with Ron's sister and his best friend unconscious in a strange cabin not far off, being attended by a rather attractive maiden, with Ron's other best friend missing, and now they had run into Ron's worst enemy-well, in spite of all that, Ron smirked at the sight of Draco in the mud, unconscious, having the same effects as a girl.  
  
Malachi sighed. "Looks like this boy is a friend as well?" he asked Ron.  
  
Snorting loudly, Ron cried, "No! This idiot is our worst enemy, almost, besides You-Know-Who, anyway-"  
  
"Who is You-Know-Who?" inquired Malachi.  
  
Ron turned fully around and faced Malachi, disbelieving. "Who is You-Know- Who? Who is You-Know-Who? Don't EVEN tell me that you have no idea who he is. You know, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?" Malachi shook his head. Narrowing his eyes and lowering his tone, Ron asked, "The Dark Lord?" Malachi still had no idea. Ron closed his eyes and whispered, "Lord...Lord...Lord V...Voldemort?"  
  
"Who is Lord Voldemort? That name is unfamiliar to me," Malachi told Ron loudly.  
  
"Shh! Don't say that so loudly! Say He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, all right?" Ron said quickly, wincing s a drop of rain caught him in the eye. The wind whipped his lately neglected red hair around and he had to quickly grab his cloak and wind it around himself so that it wouldn't rip away from his neck.  
  
"Well, we'd better get this.this-" started Malachi.  
  
"Draco Malfoy," Ron put in helpfully.  
  
"That's his NAME?" cried Malachi loudly.  
  
"Yup."  
  
With a smirk, Malachi said, "Well, we'd better get this Draco Malfoy to the cottage. But you'll have to help me carry him, because I can't do it alone."  
  
"I will not help carry that thing." Ron said, looking down on Draco with contempt. "But I do have an idea." He got out his wand and conjured what he thought would be a modern-day stretcher. But the way it turned out, it was made of long wooden rods latched together at the ends by a cord woven through them all. Blinking in a confused way, Ron pointed his wand at Draco and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" In exactly the way that Hermione had taught him all those years ago. It didn't work. "Wingardium Leviosa!" He shouted again, impatiently, stamping his foot on the ground as Draco just lie there.  
  
"Let me try," Malachi offered. "This spell is unfamiliar to me, but I think I may be able to get it." He held out his wand in the whirling wind, and muttered, "Nox," to extinguish the light he had previously made appear so he could do the spell. They were unexpectedly thrown into darkness.  
  
"Lumos," Ron said quickly, and he got his own wand to light the area so that Malachi could try.  
  
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Malachi cried. Draco lifted off of the ground and Malachi guided him onto the floating stretcher.  
  
"Figures," Ron said, "of course the amateur can do it, but of course, not me, never me!"  
  
Malachi smirked; then he lit his wand again so that they had double the amount of light and he pushed the stretcher through the air while Ron went ahead, still calling out for Harry. They reached the cottage with no major difficulties besides being cold, tired, and soaked through.  
  
When they got into the cottage, Allegra buzzed around them like an angry hornet, first taking Draco and putting him on a blanket bed next to Hermione's on the floor, then by getting Malachi and Ron some new clothes to wear, complete with Warming Charms for all of them. Then she brought a rather serious matter to their attention.  
  
"Malachi," Allegra said to him, beckoning him over to where she kneeled on the floor by Ginny's bedside, "Look at this. Isn't it beautiful?" She held up the necklace that was hung around Ginny's neck. Malachi took it from her hands and pulled it closer to him until it was gently tugging from Ginny's throat.  
  
"Remarkable," he exclaimed. "Where do you get this kind of jewelry? It must have cost a fortune!"  
  
Ron knelt down for a closer look. "Ginny doesn't own anything like that," he said, tugging at the new cloak Allegra had given him. Malachi saw a glint of something around Ron's neck.  
  
Curious, Malachi asked, "What's that?"  
  
"What's what?" Ron replied with a look of chagrin on his face.  
  
"Around your neck."  
  
Allegra stood up and went over to Ron. She picked up the chain hanging from Ron's neck and held it cupped in her hands. "You all have such wealth," she whispered in awe, "How did you ever acquire it?"  
  
"I...dunno," Ron said, "I've never seen it before in my life." He placed his hands under Allegra's cupped hands so that they were cupped together. They both stood staring, while Malachi stood also to see what it was.  
  
For what Allegra and Ron held in their hands was a most beautiful necklace made of copper, engraved with a hawk that had a blue topaz gem set into its wing. It was finely detailed, and finally Allegra made the connection.  
  
"This necklace is just like Hermione's and Ginny's," she explained excitedly. She turned the necklace over so that on the back you could see an owl, a lion, a dragon, and a deer on it. "They're all related. Maybe your other friend here-"  
  
"He's NOT my friend," said Ron stubbornly. "He's Draco Malfoy, and he's a foul Slytherin git."  
  
"All right, the foul Slytherin git probably has a necklace like this too!" Allegra said. "Wait, pray tell, what be a 'Slytherin'?"  
  
"You don't know what a Slytherin is?" asked Ron, shocked. "It's a house in the most famous school of witchcraft and wizardry ever!"  
  
"So there is a school? For witchcraft and wizardry, I mean?" Malachi inquired.  
  
"What do you mean? Of course there's a school for witchcraft and wizardry! Hogwarts, of course! And there's also Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and probably more, for all I know. When Hermione wakes up you can ask her, she's got a brain like a dictionary." Ron said.  
  
"So the rumors are true," Malachi said softly.  
  
Ron was confused. "What rumors?" he asked.  
  
"Of a school, of course! Our village has been buzzing about it all week! Just imagine. A school for witchcraft and wizardry." Allegra said, letting Ron's necklace and his hands drop as she spun around the room in excitement.  
  
"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is over one thousand years old! Stop joking around," said Ron in exasperation.  
  
"No, 'tis new! Twas just built!" Malachi exclaimed.  
  
"Malachi, I should know! I've attended Hogwarts for five years, and this is my sixth. My brothers were there before me, and my parents, and their parents, and so on and so forth! It was founded over one thousand years ago by Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin!" Ron argued.  
  
"Godric? Godric is a founder?" Asked Allegra, stopping her crazy spinning and staring at Ron. "Godric Gryffindor is a founder of this Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"  
  
"Yes-" Ron started. Allegra began her spinning again. "I always knew he'd amount to something! He's so intelligent."  
  
"How would you know?" asked Ron impatiently. He was starting to feel a little weird.  
  
"We all know Godric," Allegra said, stopping once again. Her green eyes sparkled in the firelight and Ron searched them, looking for a clue as to what this was about. "I mean, our town is named after him."  
  
"Godric Gryffindor died over a thousand years ago!" Ron persisted.  
  
"No, he's very much alive. He is an excellent scholar and magician. He's only a few years older than me. We were the best of friends. Once, he saved the village from a dragon, that's why we named it Godric's Hollow-"  
  
"Godric's Hollow! We're in Godric's Hollow?" shouted Ron abruptly.  
  
"Yes! Anyway, then one day he went on a voyage and then never returned. I received a message from him once, full of strange rubbish about he and some other people-Hilda something-or-other, Rowena Owl-claw, and Salanar Slythering-and after that we never heard from him again. I was so surprised because we were such good friends." Allegra's eyes were downcast.  
  
"Wait a second. What...what year is it?" Ron was almost afraid to hear the answer.  
  
With a perfectly straight face, Allegra Antwerp replied, "The year of our Lord 987."  
  
~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~  
  
"WORMTAIL!" a voice thundered, echoing loudly off of the stone walls of Wormtail and Voldemort's new and permanent (hopefully) hideout.  
  
"Yes, y-y-y-yes, Master?" Wormtail asked feebly. He knew that he was in deep trouble. Only he really didn't understand why their plan had gone wrong.  
  
"Did you complete your task?"  
  
"Yes, Master...but I'm afraid that something went wrong..." Wormtail cowered, waiting for the force of the blow to fall on him.  
  
"WHAT do you MEAN, something went WRONG?" the voice of Voldemort rang even louder through the room.  
  
"Well, I put the potion into their butterbeers as you ordered, and sent a house-elf to deliver them. But I'm afraid that young Draco Malfoy got ahold of one of them and drank it. But, it was most curious, Master. Draco just.just froze. Then Potter, Granger, and the two Weasleys drank theirs, they all froze, then lifted in the air and disappeared."  
  
"Disappeared? DISAPPEARED?" bellowed Voldemort, unable to control his anger. "How many times have we gone through this? I gave you the poison. I gave you the simple job of putting it into goblets and seeing that it went down the throats of 5 Gryffindors! It's not that difficult!"  
  
"But, Master, you must have given me the wrong bottle-" Wormtail tried to reason with the Dark Lord, wringing his silver hand and his normal hand together.  
  
"No. Lord Voldemort is never wrong. I believe I am correct in saying that you re-labeled all the bottles of poisons in our cupboard?"  
  
"Yes..." Wormtail was unsure what his master was playing at.  
  
"So it is simple," Voldemort's red eyes flashed as he stroked Nagini the snake with one long, abnormally skinny white finger, "You must have mislabeled the bottle. I merely fetched the bottle off of the shelf."  
  
"Yes, Master, I am sorry."  
  
"Lord Voldemort has no mercy. You have failed for the last time. I shall leave it up to you to go and inform Lucius Malfoy of what you have done with his son and only heir. And woe betides you if he hexes you. So give me the empty bottle that you used to try and poison the students, and I will determine what was inside it. Bring Lucius back here if you are still alive when he finishes with you."  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Sorry again for this long delay, and I've been trying to make chapters longer so I hope this was better. Thanks for reading, and please review! 


	6. Connections

A/N: Thanks to my reviewers, I wrote back to you at the bottom. Sorry for the delay, and I hope everyone had good holidays!  
  
  
  
Voldemort's Worst Scandal  
  
  
  
Chapter Six  
  
Connections  
  
  
  
Wormtail was preparing to leave the dismal hideout that Voldemort had so cleverly discovered so that he could go to the Malfoys' manor when Voldemort's voice again rang through the room. Wormtail cringed as it echoed and reverberated back to him over and over, so instead of the single cry of, "WORMTAIL!" It was, "WORMTAIL! WORMTAIL! Wormtail! Wormtail. Wormtail..."  
  
"Yes, Master?" Wormtail replied, shaken. He despised the upcoming part in the conversation-the part where Voldemort spoke. He could never be sure of what Voldemort was going to say, and possibilities swam through his mind like a school of fish as he waited.  
  
"Unpack the filing cabinet. I have a few more plans to add to the 'New Ideas/Untested Plans' drawer."  
  
Wormtail sighed deeply and went over to their pile of unpacked boxes, getting out his wand and preparing to levitate the rusty gray filing cabinet over to Voldemort.  
  
"Oh, and Wormtail?" Voldemort spoke yet again.  
  
"Yes?" he replied.  
  
"That's yes, MASTER."  
  
From his dark, shadowy corner, Wormtail formed defiant fists with his hands yet said nothing except, "Yes, MASTER?"  
  
"Use no magic."  
  
"For what?" asked Wormtail incredulously.  
  
"For bringing me the filing cabinet."  
  
"Why?" Wormtail formed a fist again in anger.  
  
"Why, MASTER." Voldemort corrected patiently.  
  
"Why, MASTER?!"  
  
"Because I enjoy seeing you suffer."  
  
*******************************  
  
Meanwhile, back at the cottage of Malachi and Allegra Antwerp, more than one thousand years previous to Voldemort and Wormtail's conversation, Ron Weasley was in complete and absolute shock.  
  
"The year 987? It can't be! How is it that we've come to be in the year 987?"  
  
"I haven't a clue. All I did was find ye in me field." Malachi answered. He looked slightly confused. "What year is it where you come from?"  
  
Ron sighed, thinking very longingly of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, of his classes (except Potions and Divination, of course), of the Great Hall with its many floating candles. "It was the year 1997," he began, and then went on to describe life at Hogwarts. Then he continued explaining how he ended up there.  
  
"All I remember about before we arrived here is.floating, then the feeling that the earth was ripping apart and that I was getting sucked into.somewhere," he said, "then I hit the ground in your field. The wind was knocked out of me. I started to panic, once I got my breath back, because I had no idea where I was. Then I found Hermione, and I'm assuming that the impact of hitting the ground knocked her out.  
  
"Since I had found Hermione, I was even more anxious because I knew we had to find shelter. It looked like a storm was brewing, for rain was falling harder and harder. I saw you, Malachi, moving in the shadows, so I figured I'd better get your attention, with or without the risk that you could be a foe. And here we are."  
  
Allegra's eyes misted with tears and she quickly crossed the room and hugged Ron tightly. "I believe you," she said softly into his ear. "It's the craziest story I've ever heard, but I believe you."  
  
"Well, there's one way to find out," Malachi said. "I'll be right back."  
  
His chair creaked as Malachi got up slowly. He trudged reluctantly over to one of the many wooden cabinets in the cottage and opened it slowly. Malachi moved all of the bottles inside around and drew out a particularly threatening-looking one. It probably only looked threatening to Malachi, because he wanted to believe the story Ron told, but he wasn't sure. He wanted it to be true...  
  
The tension in the room could have been cut with a knife. Malachi came back and said, "This is a truth potion. Veritaserum, to be precise. All you have to do is take a sip, and then you'll have to answer all of our questions truthfully."  
  
"Okay," Ron agreed, inwardly unsure of it. What would a potion that was (to his body) over a thousand years old do to him?  
  
But just as Ron was about to take a sip of the potion, Hermione stirred by the fireplace. Ron almost dropped the bottle containing the Veritiserum potion and leaped over to her side. A soft moan escaped her dry lips and her face, though still deadly pale, was beginning to regain color. Her chestnut curls hung limply, half-dry from the rainstorm she had been in previously.  
  
But despite her rather unconvincing looks, Hermione's eyelids fluttered open suddenly. She looked around, confused, taking in the cottage and Malachi and Allegra. Then, seeing Ron hovering over her, she sat up abruptly.  
  
"Ron," she said in a serious, please-tell-me-everything's-all-right voice, "Where are we?"  
  
Ron took a deep breath. "I know this will come as a surprise, but I know you're the rational, smart one and somehow you'll figure everything out, no matter what. But before I tell you, I have to ask you something."  
  
"What is it? Why do you have to ask me before you tell me where we are?" Hermione squinted as though she was trying to read Ron's expression through his eyes.  
  
"Just trust me. What's the last thing you remember from before you woke up?"  
  
Hermione's face clouded for a moment as she thought. "Well, do you mean before or after the world collapsed?"  
  
Smiling wryly, Ron said, "Before."  
  
"Um...the house-elf gave us butterbeers and then I just froze, and THEN that was when the world collapsed. Is that what you wanted to know?"  
  
"Yes! Thank you so much, Hermione!" Ron exclaimed. He threw his arms around her, glad to be able to remember what had happened to them. Hermione stiffly returned the hug and then knocked Ron back to his senses.  
  
"So where are we?"  
  
As Ron commenced to tell her about what had happened and introduced her to Malachi and Allegra, other things were happening in the world of 1997.  
  
  
  
**********************  
  
Wormtail cowered in the dark wood-paneled study of Lucius Malfoy. He had just explained the story of what had happened when he put the poison into the butterbeers, and Lucius was about to explode.  
  
"YOU did WHAT with my SON?" Lucius roared. "MY only HEIR? The HEIR of MALFOY ESTATES?"  
  
"It wasn't intentional, sir, believe me!" Wormtail explained. "I must have mislabeled the bottles when Master made me! He is seeing what it was that young Draco drank at this moment!"  
  
"I don't care, you whimpering, blithering, idiotic excuse for a Death Eater! That is my SON and I want him BACK!" When Wormtail tried to speak again, Lucius raised a finger to silence him. "I have had enough!" and with that, he shouted, "Crucio!" and Wormtail collapsed in agony.  
  
After the curse ended, Lucius said, "Now what was the message that the Dark Lord had for me?"  
  
"I-I w-w-was to bring y-y-y-you b-back to him," Wormtail stuttered, still very much in pain and taking deep breaths as he tried to regain his composure.  
  
"Well, come then," Lucius said, and with a *pop* they both Disapparated to Voldemort's lair. Upon their arrival, Voldemort had some news.  
  
"Well, fortunately, I have discovered the identity of the potion which careless Wormtail placed in the Gryffindor (and Slytherin) butterbeers. It was Portkey-in-a-Jar, (A/N: see bottom for full description) which I am sure you are both aware of. It has taken them to sometime in the past," Voldemort said.  
  
"But when, Master?" Lucius asked. "What date in time?"  
  
"I was just getting to that part, Lucius. We only had ever had 3 Portkey- in-a-Jar bottles. Therefore we have three different dates. One is 1692, one is 1254, and one is 987. We shall have to try and discover which one it was, and then both of you will go back to their time and bring back Harry Potter and Draco."  
  
"What about that Mudblood, and the Weasleys?" inquired Wormtail.  
  
"Kill them. We have no use for them. But I fear that you will have to go back to all of the times I stated above, for that will be the only way to find them. You will take with you a detector device, which will find Harry Potter. Whichever time he is in, the device will go off," said Voldemort.  
  
"But how will we find the others?" asked Wormtail.  
  
"Wormtail, Wormtail. Must I explain everything to you with such clarity? Wherever there is Harry Potter, his little comrades are sure to tag along."  
  
  
  
  
  
*****************************  
  
  
  
"So where's Harry?" Hermione asked Ron.  
  
"Well..." he said.  
  
"Where's Harry?" she repeated.  
  
"You see..."  
  
"I said, where is Harry?" By now her voice was down to a deadly whisper.  
  
"We can't find him," Ron admitted, knowing better than to defy Hermione when she spoke in that tone of voice.  
  
"You can't find my boyfriend? You can't..." she appeared about to break down but then got ahold of herself. "We'll find him."  
  
"Okay, whatever you say. Just keep thinking about what happened to us and I'll do all the worrying about Harry."  
  
"I know what happened," Hermione concluded confidently after a long pause. "Someone tampered with our butterbeers and so when we all drank them, they took us here. The question is what the potion was that they put into the butterbeer."  
  
"And what about the necklaces?" asked Allegra.  
  
"They all are connected by the animals. Mine has an owl, for example, and on the back are the other animals but not the owl. Ron's is a hawk, and it has all the animals on the back besides the hawk. So the hawk represents him, the owl represents me, the deer is Ginny," explained Hermione.  
  
"Then who are the dragon and the lion?"  
  
Hermione thought for a moment, then said suddenly, "Does Draco have one?"  
  
They checked, and sure enough, Draco had a necklace of some kind of silver metal, with an onyx stone. The animal was a dragon.  
  
"So the dragon is Draco." Said Hermione.  
  
"And that means..." Ron started.  
  
"Harry's here somewhere!" Hermione hugged Ron tightly. "He's the lion, it symbolizes his bravery and Gryffindor and power and everything. I'm sure of it. And Ginny's the deer, so it symbolizes her gentleness and healing. I'm the owl, so it symbolizes my brainpower, magic, and secrets; Draco's dragon symbolizes intelligence, protection, and ferocity. And Ron, your hawk is for strength, messenger, and decisiveness.  
  
"And the stones...the blue topaz on your stone, Ron, means it promotes peace, calms emotions, and promotes forgiveness-which you need to cure your jealous tendencies. The rhodonite on Ginny's symbolizes the ability to remain calm in arguments and lovingly resolve disagreements-she needs that because of her fiery temper. The jade on mine means it's protective and lucky and symbolizes wisdom and mercy-I always need luck and I have knowledge, but I feel that I have yet to acquire wisdom. And the onyx on Draco's is protective, releases old relationships, and keeps away negativity. He needs that to be able to forget what his father has been teaching him all his life and be friends with others. Also I think he needs protection from himself sometimes.  
  
"So the stones are powerful and help us to overcome our faults!" Hermione concluded finally.  
  
"Where did you learn all that?" Ron asked, staring open-mouthed. Allegra and Malachi were also impressed.  
  
"My aunt was always interested in meanings of things," explained Hermione, "and she gave me some books on the subject."  
  
"When you said she was smart," proclaimed Malachi to Ron, "You didn't say anything about her being a genius!"  
  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Portkey-in-a-Jar is a Dark Side equal of a Light Side Zonko's joke shop souvenir. It takes the drinker to a random point in time (the year is put on the jar label)  
  
  
  
AgiVega- Thanks for the review, I'll be writing quicker because I'm not so busy (I hope) :)  
  
Jess- Keep guessing :)  
  
StArDuSt- Thanks!  
  
Whelsky- Wow, thanks for the 5 reviews, lol ;)  
  
Bamboo Anime- My Christmas was great, thanks! You're lucky to have family in NYC- I love that place!  
  
Amenhotep- It's Mail-uh-ky :) 


	7. The Journey Begins

A/N: Sorry for the wait, everyone! Please read and review!  
  
Voldemort's Worst Scandal  
Chapter Seven  
  
The Journey Begins  
  
Finally, after spending the night at Malachi and Allegra's cottage, everyone (including Ginny and Draco) was awake and well rested. Outside, the storm from the previous day still raged, and the rain ran off the thatched roof and fell in torrents. The only warm place in the cottage was near the fireplace.  
  
So now, Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Draco, Malachi, and Allegra were sitting on stools near the fireplace with blankets draped over their shoulders. At first Draco had refused to take "one of those filthy rags" but after the fireplace failed to provide enough warmth, he had reluctantly agreed to take one. They were all in a circle, trying to decide what to do.  
  
"You just wait until my father finds out about this. He'll kill you all!" exclaimed Draco importantly. He had been refusing to eat the food, and it appeared as though he was planning on waiting until he was starving.  
  
"Shut up, Malfoy," said Ron, Ginny, and Hermione at the same time, throwing him very dirty looks. Surprisingly, he did shut up.  
  
Hermione's eyes suddenly lit up. "Allegra," she said, "and Malachi, I think you may be able to help us. Do you know where Godric Gryffindor was supposedly going when he left Godric's Hollow?"  
  
"I know that he went north. I know not the town or its location, though. Just that he went north." Allegra said. "Before he left, he promised me that he'd come back for me. He said that we'd marry, and our children would learn from the great school that he'd build. And now that I know that he's done that, all I have left to do is wait."  
  
"So he went north. Any idea how far?" asked Ron.  
  
Allegra shook her head.  
  
"Well," Ginny said, determined, "We'll find them. But we just have to find out how."  
  
Hermione's eyes lit up with that familiar "I just got a brilliant idea" look, and she said, "What month is it around here?"  
  
"December, lass. I'm surprised that all of this rain that's falling isn't snow yet, what with the cold." Replied Malachi.  
  
Hermione appeared to be thinking. She ran to the window and looked out into the semi-lighted outside world. She could barely see ten feet away from the cottage in all of this rain, so she called out, "Is there a lake or, even better, a river that runs north from here?"  
  
"There's a river in the village that goes north. Traders seldom come by it, though. Tis a dangerous route, that river. It's the one Godric Gryffindor departed on when he left." Allegra said wistfully.  
  
"Well, we'll go by boat, and we'll travel north. When the water freezes we'll leave the boat behind and walk on the ice. We're sure to run across the places Godric came to, if we travel along the same path. And where there's Godric, I have a feeling there'll be Harry." Said Hermione.  
  
"Is it common where you come from to have such intelligent females?" Malachi wanted to know.  
  
Ron rolled his eyes. "Fortunately, no. She-" he was interrupted suddenly by Allegra.  
  
"I'm going with you, when you go," she said. "I must find Godric."  
  
"Sister, you'll stay here! There's danger in those waters! That river runs in from the ocean, and in the ocean there are dreaded sea serpents, just to name a few." Malachi said.  
  
"And who says that the sea serpents will come into the river?" asked Allegra. "You would do this too, if he had been your best friend."  
  
"When do we leave?" Ron inquired of Hermione.  
  
She pondered a moment, and declared, "As soon as the weather clears up. Tomorrow morning, I would hope, but from the looks of things, it won't be for a few days. We'd better pack, though, just in case. And Malachi, Allegra, you're welcome to come with us. You have extended your hospitality beyond anything we could have expected. Now I just ask one more favor of you."  
  
"Yes?" Malachi asked.  
  
"We'll need supplies for the trip. Food, blankets...and do you, by any chance, know someone who has canoes?"  
  
***  
  
Pandemonium had broken out at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, particularly in the Great Hall. Five students had just disappeared and now the house-elves were hand-delivering five hundred roast turkeys. Students were all yelling things out, Prefects were trying to calm things down, and just about every first year girl was dissolved in tears. The teachers were trying to calm things down. Professor McGonagall, who was substituting as Headmistress in Albus Dumbledore's brief absence, finally took out her wand and conjured a golden goblet into a screaming banshee to distract everyone. But instead of quieting everyone down, all of the girls and some of the boys screamed at the top of their lungs and started scrambling for the door! McGonagall was getting angrier and angrier.  
  
McGonagall got rid of the banshee, pointed her wand at her throat, and shouted, "Sonorus!" Now with her voice magically magnified, she announced, "Now, everyone is to calm down at once! Prefects, lead your Houses back to the dormitories. No one is to leave their dormitory for any reason whatsoever, and he who does will wish he had never set foot in Hogwarts at all. Are there any questions?"  
  
No one said anything. Even Fred and George Weasley found that this was a time to keep quiet. McGonagall continued, "Good. Since no one has questions, then everyone shall remain absolutely silent until you reach your dormitory. Anyone besides a Prefect who speaks a word between here and their dormitory has an automatic one-month detention with Professor Snape in the dungeons. Do I make myself clear?" Everyone nodded sullenly, since they couldn't talk. The mere prospect of one detention was frightening enough; say nothing about a whole month of them.  
  
"Then you may proceed to the dormitories," McGonagall concluded. A great scraping of chairs, clattering of silverware and goblets as they were put back onto the table, and swishing of robes was heard as everyone got up. Their feet made thundering sounds, but not even the slightest whisper sounded through the Great Hall, much to McGonagall's relief. Once the students were all gone, she said to the teachers, "All right, staff meeting in five minutes."  
  
"I'll bring doughnuts!" said Professor Flitwick jovially.  
  
***  
  
Professor Severus Snape was the last teacher to sweep into the staff room. Seeing that he was the last to arrive, he closed the door behind him and glided over to his chair, which was the only one that was left empty.  
  
"Doughnuts, Severus?" offered Professor Flitwick. He held out a cardboard box full of frosted doughnuts. "There's cinnamon, plain, sugared, chocolate, strawberry drizzle-"  
  
"This is serious, Flitwick!" Snape snapped. "A Slytherin is missing and we must do all in our power to get him back!"  
  
"There are also four Gryffindors missing, Severus. And we must get them all back. We just have to figure out what caused them to disappear." Professor McGonagall said.  
  
"I sense that it was a dark force...." said none other that Professor Trelawney, the Divination teacher. McGonagall rolled her eyes and continued.  
  
"I owled Albus, and he should be back soon. He'll know how to handle the-" she was cut off again by Trelawney.  
  
"As I was gazing into my crystal last night, a strange sight was revealed to me. I was absorbed in the clairvoyant fumes when a shape made itself known to me...it was-" again, she was cut off by McGonagall.  
  
"I prefer to base my knowledge of events on actual fact, Sibyl," said McGonagall. "This is a time for seriousness, not half-guessed assumptions from your stupid crystal ball."  
  
"Minerva!" Professor Flitwick exclaimed, appalled, although he agreed with her. It just didn't seem like something McGonagall would normally say.  
  
"For your information, Professor, I wouldn't have been hired at all if Albus didn't think that I was suited for the job! You should take advantage of how fortunate you are to have knowledge of the future!" Professor Trelawney retorted, enraged.  
  
"And you, Sibyl, should take advantage of the fact that I am Headmistress in Albus' absence and I am ordering you to hold your excessively used tongue," McGonagall said firmly.  
  
"Really, Professors, zis isn't ze time to quarrel. Zis is ze time to stick togezzer, so zat we may regain ze missing students," said the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Fleur Delacour.  
  
"Professor Delacour's right. Let's discuss the important matters. Professor Dumbledore'd be right ashamed of us," spoke up Hagrid.  
  
"On to the business then, shall we?" asked Flitwick, munching on a strawberry drizzled doughnut and opening an ancient book in his hands (he had been sitting on it previously so that he could see over the top of the table), which contained disappearing charms. As he opened the book, the binding cracked and a huge cloud of dust emerged from the pages, covering both the tiny Flitwick and his doughnut. "Oh," he cried in dismay, "too bad, that was the last strawberry one, too!"  
  
***  
  
Completely unaware that their teachers, rather than doing something productive to get them back, were bickering and eating doughnuts, the Hogwarts students were being helped by Malachi and Allegra to gather their supplies for the journey. Malachi had agreed, after a long and quite heated argument, to allow Allegra to accompany the rest, and he had decided to come along as well, to "protect Allegra", as he said. At the moment, Hermione was ordering them all around, telling them what would be best to bring and what should be left behind.  
  
"Ron, why don't you grab those blankets?" she inquired over the noise of Malachi and Draco hauling the canoe to the path, where they would soon depart. They had finally convinced Draco to at least participate minimally in the preparations, after threatening to sell him as a slave to the local villagers. Allegra had teased him, "Yes, the old housewives are always dying for extra help, and what's better, they always reward their slaves. Usually one of their naughty children is forced to marry the hardworking ones."  
  
A few other memorable events had gone on, too. Ron and Allegra had been sent to the barn to get some sacks, and when they didn't return for awhile, Malachi went to find them and discovered them kissing in one of the empty stalls. Now he was even more paranoid about letting her go. "I'll be keeping you next to my side at all times," he said fiercely.  
  
Luckily, the weather had taken a turn for the better, so they were ready to depart within a few minutes. Hermione, Ron, Draco, and Ginny had been given new clothes by Malachi and Allegra, so that they would be warmer. Draco had refused to accept these, but had relented once he stepped outside the cottage and had felt for himself the cold bite of the weather. In return, Hermione had put Warming Charms on all of their clothes. It seemed that in the year 987, Warming Charms had yet to be invented.  
  
And Hermione was constantly afraid of messing up the future. She had had much experience with time travel, and was constantly fretting. "I wasn't in my right mind," she assured Ron in private, "when I invited them along. What if this changes the future? What if..." but Ron had comforted her, telling her that everything would be fine and not to worry. Not that it helped.  
  
When all of the preparations were made, they were ready to begin their journey. Malachi, Draco, and Ron dragged the canoe through the forest to the river, while Draco complained about getting his hands dirty. Hermione, Ginny, and Allegra carried the provisions and other things they had packed. Ginny's ears were red from the cold, and Hermione, fearing that they would freeze, had tied a scarf over her head and had crowned it with a Warming Charm, which had turned out to be yet another specialty of hers.  
  
Ron had made the most delightful discovery, however, as he helped Allegra into the canoe once it was in the water. Draco was already in it and as Ron looked over at Draco, he noticed that Draco's nose was red! It looked especially funny on top of Draco's impossibly white complexion and silvery blond hair.  
  
Immediately, Ron had begun to call Draco "Rudolph", after Santa's reindeer. (A/N: yes, even the wizarding world has a Santa () Draco, however, not making this assumption directly, exclaimed, "How did you find out my middle name?"  
  
And that was how "Malfoy" became "Rudy". At least, to Ron.  
  
Their journey had been underway for a short while when a piercing scream rang through the forest. It was Ginny, who was sitting in the back of the canoe. An impossibly huge, indistinguishable shape was heading their way....  
A/N: Don't forget to review! (  
  
Kanzer: Thanks!  
  
Bamboo Anime: Harry and the Founders are coming...eventually :) I've only been to Manhattan, much to my regret. I really want to see the other parts of NYC, though. You're lucky to have so many people there and so many connections to it!!!  
  
AgiVega: Thanks a lot! LOL, more Lucius in the next chappie. And you ain't seen any temper yet... lol  
  
nut job: no problem about not reviewing in so long, it's all right-look how long it's taken me to get this chapter up! Lol. I go to some reliable (I think) websites about symbols to find out things like that. If you'd like to know them, I'll tell you. 


	8. Ah, the Joy of Watching Villains Suffer

A/N: This chapter was very fun to write, one of the most enjoyable so far. It's not really very serious, but it had to be done. I'm so sorry that these last few chapters have been coming out so late, it's just that I've been seized by the evil writer's block. And I won't try to get anybody's hopes up...truth is, the next chapter might take another month to get out, but if I get inspired, who knows? Could be in a week. Thanks to all who reviewed, I really appreciate it! I wrote to you at the bottom... Enjoy!  
  
Voldemort's Worst Scandal  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
Ah, the Joy of Watching Villains Suffer  
  
Lucius Malfoy gingerly accepted the vial of Portkey-in-a-Jar from the hand of Voldemort. Wormtail did the same, and was staring down at the vial filled with formidable, hissing liquid he held. It was all he could do to keep himself from "accidentally" dropping it on the floor and running away. Or, even better, tossing it into Lucius Malfoy's face.  
  
"Now," Voldemort began, looking upon his most faithful Death Eater and his puny servant with great amusement, "This Portkey-In-A-Jar will take you either to 1692, 1254, or 987. You must be prepared to take immediate action when you find the group of students. Here is the detector device you must use when you get there, and you must stay in the time you are in for at least an hour before you may perform the Charm to come back to the future. Remember, Potter and Malfoy are the only ones to be spared. Kill the others."  
  
"Yes, Master," Lucius replied. Wormtail just gulped. Lucius rolled his eyes. "On three, then," he said, raising his vial, "One, two, three!"  
  
But instead of drinking his, Lucius pretended to, while Wormtail drank his. Voldemort and Lucius roared with laughter, and Voldemort clapped Lucius on the back. "I knew you were going to do that!" he laughed. With a grin, Lucius downed the liquid in his vial, froze, and disappeared just like Wormtail had a moment before.  
  
With a big bump, Lucius landed, to hear people screaming.  
  
"A witch!"  
  
"Burn the witch!"  
  
"A witch is in our midst!"  
  
Lucius was dragged roughly to his feet, and, too dazed from time-travel to do anything, was dragged roughly into a building full of long wooden benches of people. The people were all dressed in old-fashioned clothing and were staring at him. Wormtail was nowhere in sight. At the head of the room, there was a big desk where a judge-like person was sitting, and there were a bunch of little girls sitting on the benches in front. As Lucius came forward, the girls hurled themselves onto the floor, clutching at the floorboards, screaming, howling, and tearing their nails as they groped at the floorboards.  
  
"He's a witch!" one of them screamed, "His spirit is pouring hot oil onto me!"  
  
"And he's the one who has been causing the disease among children!"  
  
The girls were screaming still. Lucius just stared. They were acting just like Draco had as a child! He rolled his eyes. This must be the year 1692, and he was in the midst of the Salem Witch Trials.  
  
The judge-like person at the big desk said to Lucius, "Do thee deny that thou art a witch and therefore must be burned at the stake?"  
  
"On what grounds?" Lucius snarled, deciding to play along for fun.  
  
"We all saw you appear out of nowhere!" the judge man replied. "And these girls' testimony clearly shows-"  
  
"So you believe the lies of a few spoiled children?" asked Lucius. He had heard of the Salem Witch Trials, but he had never imagined that it would be this bad. Even to a Death Eater.  
  
"They are not lies! These children are clearly troubled, and they have hereby announced many witches! So do thee or do thee not deny that thou art a witch and therefore must be burned at the stake?"  
  
"Uh...let me think about that," Lucius said, an evil grin on his face. He whipped the Harry Potter detector device out of his pocket and, holding it up in front of everyone in the meetinghouse, pushed the little black button that was on it, making it whir and spin. A stream of smoke came out of it as it spun, and the words, "Harry Potter is not here," were spelled out in the smoke. "Darn!" Lucius cursed, unhappy. Now he had to stay here in this time and contend with all of these idiots for an hour. Getting an idea, he put up his hands and shouted, "I summon the powers of evil! Come to me!"  
  
He pulled out his wand and conjured sparks, causing the villagers to draw closer to one another in an enormous huddle. Lucius conjured a wind to make his robes and air whip around. And then, he yelled, "Do not mess with the powers of evil!"  
  
"Burn him!" shouted the magistrate.  
  
"Who in Voldemort's NAME do you think you ARE?" Lucius exploded. "You POUNCE on every man you find and accuse him of being a witch, just to have something to DO! You trust the judgment of little GIRLS over your own common sense, just to have someone to blame your problems on! This is an OUTRAGE! Absolutely scandalous! I can't believe it!"  
  
"Why?" asked one of the frightened townsmen,  
  
"It's VOLDEMORT'S job, you fool!"  
  
And with that, he stormed out of the room.  
  
No one followed him.  
  
***  
  
Wormtail had been hiding in the back of the meetinghouse, too afraid to go to Lucius's aid. He just pulled his cloak over his face, hid in the corner of the room, and watched, finally seeing Lucius leave the room. Now, it was filled with gasps, crying, and cries of, "Witch-hunt!" and, "Burn the witch!"  
  
As chaos took over, he went to leave the meetinghouse but it was blocked by crazed townspeople. Wormtail tried to cover his face with his cloak to hide that he was not a villager, but it didn't work. A woman saw him and shouted, "A stranger! A stranger is in our midst!"  
  
The townspeople had then forgotten Lucius and were engrossed with Wormtail.  
  
"Where did you come from?" one asked.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"Oh, dear," said Wormtail, looking blankly at the faces of the townspeople. He blinked. Then, getting the idea to leave, he Apparated out of the meetinghouse.  
  
***  
  
Their journey had been underway for a short while when a piercing scream rang through the forest. It was Ginny, who was sitting in the back of the canoe. An impossibly huge, indistinguishable shape was heading their way....  
  
Ginny was torn out of the canoe and pulled into the water. Allegra shrieked right along with Ginny as the indistinguishable shape soon took the form of a giant sea serpent! It must have gotten into the large river through the sea. The serpent was going faster than the canoe, so Ron and Malachi dove into the water to go after it. Malachi was unsuccessful, but Ron managed to get ahold of the Serpent's tail. He thought quickly, but had to keep gasping for breath as the serpent tried to cast him off. But he held on tight, fueled by his little sister's screams.  
  
Ron's thoughts landed on a certain time in the past, involving a troll. He saw that further up the river, there was a log hanging over the river, acting like a bridge. Without hesitating, he shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!"  
  
The log rose into the air, and he made it land right onto the serpent's head. It worked, and the serpent was struck unconscious, but there was still one problem. Ginny was in the serpent's mouth, being gripped by its teeth, and the serpent was sinking into the water after being stricken unconscious.  
  
Sighing, then taking a huge breath, Ron dove into the water after the serpent. He caught onto its slimy tail, and he moved along the serpent's body until he found Ginny. He grabbed her hand, and he was relieved that she grabbed back-she was still conscious. Together, they fought to free her, and finally she came out of the serpent's mouth. They swam to safety quickly.  
  
They broke through the surface of the water, gasping for breath. Ron supported Ginny, who had no energy left to float. They were pulled into the boat and, thanks to Hermione's endless supply of spells, their clothes were dry and set with renewed Warming Charms. Allegra held Ron so tightly that he had to tell her to knock it off before he suffocated, because she seemed afraid to let go, in case Ron should disappear again if she did.  
  
And Draco just sat there coolly, basically ignoring them all.  
  
"Hey, Rudy," Ron asked of him, "Why didn't you try to help my sister?"  
  
"And get my hair all full of pond water? I think not." Malfoy replied.  
  
"It's river water, not pond water," corrected Hermione.  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"I think you were afraid of the serpent," said Ron.  
  
"I was NOT!" Draco shouted.  
  
"Someday, Rudy, you'll learn that being brave comes with being a man...and if you're not brave, you can kiss it goodbye." Ron said with a grin, and ducked as Draco aimed a punch at him.  
  
A/N: Thanks for being so patient with me, everybody! Please review!  
  
nut job: the site I use for the stones is Thanks for the review!  
  
AgiVega: LOL, I've learned to love cliffies! And guess where I got the idea that they would be fun? Your fics, of course! (the best ever!) Haha, I agree with what you said about Hagrid calling Fleur 'Professor" and the thing about the accent...if I ever get the energy, I'll fix it ;) Thanks!  
  
Bamboo Anime: So, how have you been? I'm so excited, I might be going to NYC again soon! Yes, I love Manhattan, I just wish I could see the rest as well. Sorry about not posting sooner, I just have writer's block. I did, however, write the entire last chapter of this fic while I was inspired this morning, lol. Thanks for the review!  
  
Gold Dragon of Egypt: LOL! I agree, down with Cho! I do like Harry and Hermione, too, though, but Harry and Ginny are definitely great! Draco will change, though, you'll see...just remember how in the prologue Hermione was able to see through him...  
  
A Mysterious Black Cat (Bastet): Hi! Thanks for reviewing, I really appreciate it. It was you who got me to get off my lazy butt and finish this chapter! Haha, have fun with the other Shadows, play nice, and don't let the Dragon singe your tail! (lol)  
  
weirdo_without_a_clue: Thanks for the review! Yes, Harry lives, but maybe he won't if I have a sequel...and that is a MAYBE. Muahahaha!!! And you're right, the Dark Lord does have it easy. Lucky him. 


	9. Harry At Last

A/N: So how did everyone enjoy OotP? I LOVED it, read it in two days. Feel free to leave your comments in a review-tell me what you thought! Anyway, on to business...  
  
Oh dear, my longest absence so far... over four months! I'm so sorry. I'll be editing this story and making it longer, etc. I already edited the prologue. But for now, don't worry and enjoy Chapter Nine! (Read and review, as always.)  
  
Voldemort's Worst Scandal  
  
Chapter Nine  
  
Harry At Last  
  
Harry Potter suddenly awakened, dazed, and, upon opening his eyes, flinched and quickly shut them again and covered his face with his hands. Light streamed in at him from many tall, arched, slender windows that reminded him of windows from a church, only without the stained glass. Harry groaned and opened his eyes little by little until he was accustomed to the brightness. He realized that the reason it was so bright was that the sun was beginning to set and so the light was coming straight at him. He fumbled for his glasses, finally finding them on what felt like a rough wooden table. When he put on his glasses, he opened, for the first time, the doorway from one world to another.  
  
And he was amazed at what he saw.  
  
He lie in a room full of cots that were floating in the air. They were covered with a single white blanket of some flowing material. It looked like a medieval version of a hospital. There were moving portraits hung off of the stone wall, just like... just like at Hogwarts! It was a hospital wing! But where was this? This hospital wing was smaller than the one at Hogwarts, where he had experienced a lot of the most important times in his life: the time when he had all of the bones in his arm re- grown, the time when he fell off of his broomstick in Quidditch, when Hermione and the others had been Petrified in their second year, the memories were numerous.  
  
Harry got up off of the bed and immediately felt a bit dizzy. He was just starting to wonder what he was going to do when suddenly four people walked into the room, wearing strange clothes and chatting quietly. There were two women, wearing long, flowing robes, and two men wearing breeches and tunics with swords at their belts. Harry thought he recognized them from somewhere, but he wasn't sure where it might have been.  
  
As soon as the four people noticed that he was standing up, they hurried over to him. One, a short, plump woman with thick strawberry-blonde hair that was pulled back into a braid, said to him, "How are you feeling, dear? Did you get enough rest?" When she talked, her crystal blue eyes shimmered and her double chin wobbled a little. Her yellow robes combined with her appearance hinted that she was a very jolly person indeed. Harry was strongly reminded of a younger Mrs. Weasley.  
  
A bit dazed, Harry managed, "Yes, thank you, but may I ask you a question?"  
  
The woman nodded empathetically with a smile, so Harry continued slowly, "Not to be rude or anything, but who are you, and where am I?"  
  
She smiled at the others, and Harry wondered why. Then a bearded man with black hair stepped forward. He wore a green tunic with black breeches, and the sheath of his sword said something that Harry couldn't quite make out with all of this sunshine blasting in his face.  
  
"I," the man started, "am Salazar Slytherin. Pleased to meet your acquaintance." He shook Harry's hand. Salazar's grip was very firm, and- wait! Salazar?  
  
"Y-you're Salazar Slytherin?" Harry asked in amazement. "You can't be, you died a thousand years ago; this is impossible!"  
  
He looked around at the others, and they were all regarding him with puzzled expressions. He continued, "Then you're Godric Gryffindor?" A man in dark red breeches and a white tunic nodded. He looked friendly and confused, but still kind. He had reddish brown hair. Harry said, "And you're Rowena Ravenclaw, right?" Rowena smiled and nodded curtly. She had on flowing midnight blue robes and carried a leather-bound book in her hands. Harry automatically sensed that she meant business. Finally, he turned to the woman who had first approached him, the one in the yellow robes, and said, "So you must be Helga Hufflepuff." She nodded with a sympathetic smile.  
  
As a sudden realization dawned on Harry, he asked in a weak whisper, "What year is it?"  
  
And Rowena Ravenclaw answered, a year that dripped with heaviness onto Harry's mind, "The year of our Lord 987."  
  
He backed up against a cold stone wall, disbelieving. Here he was, talking to the Founders of Hogwarts-the Founders of Hogwarts! -and in the year 987! It was impossible, unreal. He wished he had Hermione there to work everything out; she was so smart it would take her maybe three seconds.  
  
"It can't be," he said firmly, shaking his head and feeling the dizziness return to his head. "It was the year 1997 when I was at Hogwarts-"  
  
Godric looked at him strangely. "What do you mean, my boy? You are at Hogwarts, and it is the first Wizarding School in Britain, I'm proud to say. Naturally it is the year 987; it is the school's fifth year in existence. Come now, let us go and discuss this over a drink, shall we?"  
  
"Or," interjected Helga, "You could lie down a bit if you'd like, dear, you look like you have an awful headache."  
  
"No, thank you," Harry said, "I think a drink will be just fine. I'm just a bit lightheaded, that's all. I'm Harry Potter, by the way."  
  
They all nodded and smiled and started moving toward the door. Harry followed them, with a broad smile on his face. This was the first time since he had entered the wizarding world that he had told someone his name and they hadn't been all over him. He shivered as he remembered the remarks people in the future had made: things about his scar, how he defeated the Dark Lord, and whatever else, and then how they had all gone away after a bit, satisfied that they had shaken Harry Potter's hand and perhaps gotten his autograph, probably never to see him again.  
  
Rowena Ravenclaw interrupted his thoughts, saying, "Harry, if you don't mind, I'd like to see you in the library after we dine."  
  
She said this not as a question, but more like a kind demand. It reminded Harry of how a mother might say something like, "And if you don't mind, dear, I'd like you to put on a scarf before you go out." Of course, it wasn't like he could remember ever having a mother, thanks to Voldemort, let alone have her tell him to put on a scarf.  
  
As they walked to the Great Hall, Harry noticed that the Hogwarts he was in was much smaller than the Hogwarts of 1997. The Great Hall was the same size, but the hospital wing had been smaller, and the corridors were almost nowhere near familiar. He inwardly chided himself, "Well, of course they're not familiar, this is a thousand years before the Hogwarts I know."  
  
They sat down at chairs in the room. The Great Hall was set up much like it was in Harry's day, with the four long tables. But instead of the tables being one long table that ran all the way down the Great Hall, they were kind of split in half, so there were two tables in a long row, with the four original rows. Harry, Helga, Salazar, Godric, and Rowena sat at the high table.  
  
The Founders called upon a house-elf to fetch him a goblet of pumpkin juice, which was apparently a delicacy around here. Harry sipped it and watched as more house-elves brought out food for them. First, there was tomato soup with a garnish that appeared to be rosemary. Then, the house- elves brought out a meat course. It seemed that Hogwarts hadn't yet adapted the system where the food appeared on command.  
  
There were all sorts of meats, many of which Harry couldn't recognize. There was roasted boar, and something resembling chicken along with the other undistinguishable ones. Harry eagerly tried a little of every type, so that he could tell everyone about it when he got back.  
  
After they ate meat, the house-elves cleared the table swiftly and brought out a vegetable course, with corn, potatoes, pumpkins, squash, anything Harry could think of was there. Then came fruit, several wines (Harry was a "good boy" and only had a sip of one), bread, and finally dessert, which consisted mostly of pies and cakes with some puddings thrown in here and there. Harry ate until he was thoroughly stuffed, and then he sat back and waited for the Founders to finish. Rowena Ravenclaw was first.  
  
"Well," she said to the other Founders, "I'd like to have a talk with Mr. Potter in the library. We shall be back in a while." Helga and Salazar nodded, and Godric grunted while his teeth were sunk deep into a huge turkey leg. Rowena's nose crinkled slightly, and her mouth opened a bit as though she were about to chastise Godric for not eating properly. Apparently she changed her mind, though, because she silently stood up and bid Harry to follow her.  
  
He did so, and they went silently through many corridors until Rowena stopped at a set of double doors. They were made of oak and had been intricately carved with the Hogwarts crest, although it looked different than it did in Harry's time. This crest was just a dragon on a shield, with a banner bearing the legend "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titallandus". Harry smirked and thought to himself, Never tickle a sleeping dragon...what a great motto.  
  
His thoughts were abruptly cut short when Rowena threw open the oaken doors and revealed a library that would have impressed Hermione Granger far more than the one that existed at Hogwarts in his time. This library was bright and organized, full to the brim with tens of thousands of books that sat on polished shelves. The room was circular, which led Harry to believe that it was in a tower. The floor was polished and there were many little rag rugs scattered around at the foot of comfortable-looking armchairs similar to those in Harry's time's Gryffindor common room. In addition to the private armchairs, there were normal library tables made of some dark wood and surrounded by chairs of the same material. Rowena led him to one of these tables.  
  
After they sat down, Rowena looked at him through serious eyes and said, "Harry, I want you to tell me a few things."  
  
"Well...all right, I guess. But won't that change the future? Couldn't it mess up the way time worked?" he inquired.  
  
"Harry. This is extremely important. There is no harm in telling someone something, for I shall not be sharing this information with anyone else. It just might prove useful if anything should arise."  
  
"Uh, well, what do you want to know?" Harry asked. He still didn't like the whole idea of telling her what was going on in the future.  
  
"How much do you know about ancient Hogwarts?" asked Rowena. Her eyes seemed to bore into him, and when he answered her, she started writing it down.  
  
"All I know, really, is mostly about the Chamber of Secrets," Harry said. "Oh, and there was-"  
  
"What was the Chamber of Secrets?" Rowena asked curiously. Harry knew he probably shouldn't tell her, but he did anyway, just so as not to make any new enemies. He was in a strange world without allies, and needed more friends than nemesis's.  
  
"It started out as a legend, really, that Salazar Slytherin had built a secret chamber far beneath the school, and he put inside it a monster that could only be controlled by the Heir of Slytherin. He built it before he left the school. In my second year, there were a lot of occasions where people were Petrified, and messages left on a wall saying that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. After a girl was brought into the Chamber, the school was going to close. But my friend and I found the Chamber by opening it-the only way to get inside was to speak Parseltongue. I can, and so could Slytherin.  
  
"Inside the Chamber, there was a basilisk left there by Salazar. I encountered it and the one who could control it, Tom Riddle, who is now Voldemort, the most feared dark wizard of our time. He killed my parents, and he caused the basilisk to kill a little girl while he was at Hogwarts. But I ended up killing the basilisk and we all got out all right. Got rid of Tom, too." He then fell silent and stared very hard at a knot in the dark wood of the table before him.  
  
"I knew it! Salazar is up to something!" Rowena exclaimed. "Everything with this school has been perfectly fine, until earlier this year, when we had an argument. Godric wants to teach all the heroes, the soldiers' sons or warriors' daughters. Salazar doesn't care who he teaches as long as they're pure-blooded. I personally prefer to teach the students who are intelligent and enjoy learning, and Helga takes anyone. So basically she gets the students who aren't as smart, are half-blooded, and aren't famous.  
  
"It all worked out perfectly. The students would take a short entrance exam, to give us an idea of his or her educational background, and then we would have a conference with the student to find out about their family, and if they were famous. Then we would decide based on what our information shows.  
  
"But then this year, a new problem presented itself to us. We started getting students who are both pure-blooded and famous, or smart and famous, or pure-blooded and smart. Then we would have to argue about whose house the student would be in. Godric and Salazar, once the best of friends, got into the biggest row. They had just drawn their swords when I walked in and stopped them. Then Helga was upset that she got all of the students no one else wanted.  
  
"All of this bothers me because with all of this fighting we've been doing, we've almost lost our initial purpose for starting the school: to teach all of what we know to those who need educating. We wanted to spread magic, to let it be spread throughout the wizarding world and give people learning opportunities. Helga has presented to us a very good point. We shouldn't try to choose who to teach, we should just teach for the love of doing so. But by the time we realized this it was too late. We have waded in too deep. We all want to defend our own opinions rather than compromise. What you saw earlier, the friendliness between us, is just a charade. Every night we gather and argue for hours, sometimes. I swear, we are about to declare war. And now you have shown me a reason." Rowena finished her speech by twirling her long wavy brown hair through her fingertips.  
  
"Wow," Harry said, astonished, "You lot certainly have a lot of problems. Might want to check into therapy, I've heard it works wonders."  
  
A/N: So there you are, you finally got to see Harry and the Founders! Thanks for putting up with me! I had Ruxi, an artist at Artistic Alley, draw Malachi and Allegra! I'll put spaces in between the link so it won't be deleted. So here's the link! Type it above to see them! Again, it's by Ruxi: g e o c i t i e s . c o m / r u x i _ h e h e / a t t . j p g  
  
Check it out! Now to those who reviewed:  
  
AgiVega: Thanks for the review! Yes, it's a pity that Lucius survived! Haha. Oh and I've been checking out your art at both Gryffindor Tower and Phoenixtears, and I wanted to congratulate you on how well you draw! Great job!  
  
nut job: Here's the site again, sorry it didn't show up! This is just one of the ones I used. I'll try to track down the others! It's w w w . v e r n a l s p i r i t . c o m / g e m s t o n e s / g e m _ m e a n i n g s . h t m Hope it's useful!  
  
White Satin: Thanks for all the reviews, wow, really appreciate it! That's a lot of reviews..thanks again!  
  
Bamboo Anime: Cool that you'll be going to NYC! I wish I could! How did you like OotP? Loved it, personally. OMG, I loved the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie! Helps that Johnny Depp and ESPECIALLY Orlando Bloom are in it..hehehe, I've seen it 3 times already and am planning on more. Thanks for the review!  
  
Padfoot Hoshi: LOL, you reviewed just in time! I had just finished this new chapter! Hope your sanity is spared for the moment! Hahaha. Thanks for the review! 


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